Major package checkins

In the last two weeks 457 package checkins were done for openSUSE:Factory. The legal queue is very small and contains only 7 packages including two large packages: chromium which might end in Factory and LibreOffice 3.4 - with a large tarball instead of many smaller ones. LibreOffice has 110.000 files, so the legal review will take some time.

Out of the 457 package checkins, I'll only highlight a few below. Quite a few package checkins were to fix build failures from the --no-copy-dt-needed change and on improving systemd support in openSUSE.

Focusing on OpenJDK - Sun/Oracle JDK will not be in 12.1

Up to now, openSUSE users had the choice of using openJDK (GPL with classpath
exceptions) or Sun/Oracle's Java. The Sun/Oracle Java was licensed under the
"Distributor's License for Java (DLJ)", which allowed Linux distributors to
package and redistribute Sun/Oracle Java. Recently, Oracle announced that
openJDK 7 is the new official reference implementation for Java SE7. They no
longer see the need for the DLJ licensed Java implementation and so have
retired that license.
openSUSE chooses to proceed with distributing the GPL licensed official
reference implementation, openJDK. We will no longer distribute newer versions
or updates of the now proprietary licensed Sun/Oracle JDK. Existing
installations of the Sun/Oracle JDK are still licensed under the now retired
DLJ.
openSUSE users who wish to continue using the Sun/Oracle JDK (including
new versions thereof and updates) should now download directly from
http://www.oracle.com/java.
For now we keep the current sun-java packages
(under the DLJ license) in the Java:sun:Factory project and will not update
them anymore.
I suggest to document in the openSUSE wiki how to install the Sun/Oracle JDK
version from Oracle under openSUSE.

Fallout from --no-copy-dt-needed change

The change to use --no-copy-dt-needed in the linker (see my last blog post)
caused around 80 falling packages. The obs project <a href="http://is.gd/3EUd48">openSUSE:Factory:Staging:DtNeeded</a> has all the packages that need fixing. As usual, help in fixing failing packages is more than welcome!

Zypper has now gpgchecks enabled again

Michael Andres fixed a bug in zypper where repositories were created by default with checking of gpg signatures disabled. His email explains how to fix repositories. The fixed package is now in factory.

Other interesting bits

SUSE developers changed default email addresses

As part of the new SUSE branding, many developers will now use in tools like openFATE and bugzilla their email addresses as was recently announced. This has no implication on which adress you use for sending emails, just if you want to add somebody to an existing bugreport or feature, you might need to use now "user@suse.com" instead of the previous "user@novell.com".

Release note entries

Karl Eichwalder writes the release notes and reminded that besides opening a bugreport against the component "Release Notes", you can also add release notes to openFATE and he will then collect them. To make great release notes, please tell Karl about important changes.

openSUSE conference coming

Next week we're going to setup the venue for the openSUSE conference. If you haven't registered, please do so now. We also do need help to run and setup the conference, please sign up at the volunteer page.
This year's conference also has a code of conduct and I advise to read and follow it to help to create an environment where people feel accepted and welcome!